Thread: Parabolic Springs

yep, great little bits of kit.

you can buy them in au from a couple of different mobs...

i have them on my swb series 2

Its the best mod that I have done to my SWB. And one I will never regret doing

What have people paid for parabolics.

The Canadian ones are usually Rocky mountain. I reckon best around. We used TI console for a while but had a few dramas, so swapped to Rocky mountain.

My old series III with rocky mountain pair of bollocks
They say they are as good as coils, the're not, but very good for leaves. these were on for a few years and don't seemed to have sagged.

I put British Springs Parabolics on my SIII and the improvement to the ride was great. I got 4 leaf rears and 2 leaf fronts.

The parabolics put a lot more strain on your shock absorbers, so be sure you don't skimp on shocks. I put KONI on the back, but I couldn't get KONI for the front.

They handled the Simpson Desert really well with a heavy load travelling east-west, but I did break a parabolic spring on the Ernst Giles Rd in Central Australia where there were rough corrugations. Whether shocker fade led to spring failure, or spring failure led to shocker demise I don't know, but for outback touring, I'd say avoid the parabolis unless you're light weight (SWB or no Bullbar kind of light weight). Unfortunately you can't get anything with more than 2 leaves for the front.

Originally Posted by Michael2

I put British Springs Parabolics on my SIII and the improvement to the ride was great. I got 4 leaf rears and 2 leaf fronts.

The parabolics put a lot more strain on your shock absorbers, so be sure you don't skimp on shocks. I put KONI on the back, but I couldn't get KONI for the front.

They handled the Simpson Desert really well with a heavy load travelling east-west, but I did break a parabolic spring on the Ernst Giles Rd in Central Australia where there were rough corrugations. Whether shocker fade led to spring failure, or spring failure led to shocker demise I don't know, but for outback touring, I'd say avoid the parabolis unless you're light weight (SWB or no Bullbar kind of light weight). Unfortunately you can't get anything with more than 2 leaves for the front.

As Michael points out, with parabolics shock absorbers become as important as with coils.
With conventional leaf springs substantial damping is provided by friction between the leaves. The parabolic springs deliberately reduce this friction and damping to almost nothing. This is the source of their superiority over conventional leaf springs. However, it does mean you depend more on your shock absorbers, and also means that these are worked harder, so you should always fit the shock absorbers specified by the spring manufacturer.
However, I disagree that the broken spring could have been due to shock absorber fade - breakage of the spring just about has to be a manufacturing fault (although it could be the result of a stress concentration resulting, for example, from stone damage)! In this day and age there is no excuse for springs breaking unless the shock absorber parted company allowing the spring to be bent beyond its elastic limit.
I am not sure I would avoid outback touring with parabolics, although there is the drawback that IF you break a leaf, it is more serious than a broken leaf on a conventional leaf spring.

John

V8hybrid

how have u found the rocky mountains? n e dramas?

bisho